


Lips Like Sugar

by trevo4folhas



Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M, From Highschool to grown ups, Highschool AU, alternative universe, minor nnoinel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 03:59:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17134529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trevo4folhas/pseuds/trevo4folhas
Summary: "He can tell without even talking to her that she’s not meant to be sitting there, next to him, against a tall willow tree in the middle of a park where anyone can see them."Short story about Grimmjow and a girl he can't scare away with a glare.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was a short story I wrote a while back and got deleted with alongside my tumblr. But here it is now, for prosperity.  
> It's a bit of a songfic, although I feel like it deviates from the usual format a bit. Still, it was written with Echo and the Bunnymen's "Lips Like Sugar" in mind, as the song reminded me of Nel :)
> 
> Hope you like it!

 

She mumbles a song he knows by heart, a guilty pleasure of sorts.

Only because it suits her so much, and only because she never runs away from him like the rest of the world.

Sometimes he wishes she did.

A rich girl, born with a silver spoon in her mouth and with a dad who hates delinquents like him. He can tell without even talking to her that she’s not meant to be sitting there, next to him, against a tall willow tree in the middle of a park where anyone can see them.

He knows the game she’s playing. After all, she’s not _with_ him. Just at the same location, breathing the same air, munching obnoxiously on candy and forcing him to listen to the same song through her loud headphones.

It makes him nervous. Makes him feel like he’s on the verge of doing something stupid, of yelling at her and driving her away for good.

He doesn't want her near. But somehow, he does.

Maybe even nearer.

The first time she ever came near him, he hated her. Girls like her and boys like him didn’t belong together. He knew from the upper-class stares he got from similar people, glancing at him like he was a circus act. Even the pop of her bubblegum irritated him.

The second time he was annoyed, expecting the conversation starter, the friend's voice that would pop out of nowhere to tell her not to waste time on him – a voice that never came. Nobody stuck around her either.

Then the third time, and the fourth time, she’d take a lollipop to her mouth, while he’d take a deep drag of his cigarette and close his eyes as the muffled sound of her headphones reached him. There was never anyone else, just him and her.

He hated it. And he yearned for it.

“Just when you think you’ve caught her...”

He sings, just loud enough for her to hear and finally turn to him, acknowledging him for the very first time, from the other side of the tree.

“She glides across the water...”

“She calls for you tonight,” She completes the verse with a small smile, meeting his eyes with her own hazel ones. “To share this moonlight.”

He sings no more, and he shifts away his sights again, like the invitation never happened.

“I didn’t know you liked this song.” She lowers her headphones and makes conversation on her own, looking him up and down. “You don’t look like it.”

He scoffs. Like she could talk with her proper knee length skirt and cashmere shirt, combed wavy hair and clean nails. Anything other than a church track would have looked daring next to her.

Only her mouth is red, all too sweet looking.

“I know it because you keep bothering me with it.” He twists his lip in a snarl.

There’s a brief silence in which she looks almost disappointed.

“You know,” she then breaks it. “They say you are like this. Unfriendly, rude, mean.”

“Oh poor you.” He mocks.

“I thought maybe you were just lonely.”

“Don’t talk to me like you know shit.” He accused.

“I just thought maybe we could--”

“You think I’m lonely but nobody comes a foot near you. I’ve seen you just as alone.”

She barely reacts, and he continues.

“At least if I have nobody it’s because I drive them away by being _unfriendly-rude-mean.”_ His voice feigned a high, obnoxious pitch. “But you... you act all open and kind, and still nobody likes you.”

It was like she didn’t even hear him. Her face betrayed nothing as she stood up from the grass and walked away without another word.

He does nothing to stop her from leaving. The quiet is welcome. Her skirt flows around the wind, looking just a little less straight and proper without him by her side to contrast.

His boots are worn out and scratched, his jeans are ripped, his jacket is old and in need of retirement. It’s not completely optional, but it is what it is, and he embraces it.

He looks back at her as the distance between the two increases, and the song plays back on his head again.

_She'll be my mirror_  
Reflect what I am  
A loser and a winner  
The king of Siam

_And my Siamese twin_  
Alone on the river  
Mirror kisses  
Mirror kisses

Then he gets up, not quite with regret, and he chases her.

It’s obvious once he reaches her that she noticed him, but she still acts as though he’s not there. Only when he grabs her hand does she stop to look at him with the same impassive face she left with.

No words come out, so she pulls away and keeps walking.

For the briefest second, her eyes looked downcast, and now he does think of his choice of words.

“I’m sorry.” He reaches again, tries again, forcing an uncharacteristic apology out of him.

“I won’t annoy you again.” She says with finality in her voice.

He’s quiet, but pulls her closer, not letting her go.

“I don’t actually mind.” He lies, because he does mind, although he can’t put his finger onto just why that is.

“If you didn’t you wouldn’t have said that.”

“Nelliel.” He says, and she looks at him like she’s not expecting him to know her name. How could he not. “Just...”

She faces him and sees him out of words, not knowing what to say. It’s with a sort of melancholic smile that she lets him go.

“I accept your apology, Grimmjow.”

It’s his turn to be surprised. Just a bit. Then he nods.

 

_You'll flow down her river_  
She'll ask you and you'll give her  
Lips like sugar  
Sugar kisses 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always feel a little bit guilty when I take some characters of the series just to make them the bad guys. But then again, Nnoitra is a vindictive guy in canon so I don't feel too bad about it xD Most of all because I like the idea of first loves being the first, but not the last.
> 
> The Byrds - Everybody's Been Burned  
> Neil Young - Cinnamon Girl

She pushed her luck every day, and against his own will he realized he started caring less and less about it.

They never really meet at college, or at least not for long. Slowly but surely, she made her own friends, some good, most not so much, and he found there wasn’t much of a reason for her to drop by their little space any more.

Nelliel disagreed.

She would still sit next to him under that tall oak tree, but the space between them wasn’t filled by candy cracking between her teeth or loud music now. No, to his dismay she found it much better to babble on and on about her day, and her plans, and her exams, classmates, yada yada.

He felt like ripping his hair off his head after five minutes. After ten, he wanted to rip off hers.

Grimmjow might have been a lonely looking guy, but he had a life away from her. His friends were more of an idolizing gang than actual company, but they were still there often. He had a girlfriend too, a promiscuous, hot chick that hadn’t been too happy about his newfound buddy-with-tits.

“ _What the hell do you even talk about so much anyway?”_

That was Cirucci’s mistake: thinking he actually got to do any talking, or even going through the far fetched assumption Nelliel’s company was something he wanted, rather than something he’d just have to deal with.

She only eased up a little when Nel found her own guy to keep her busy.

Oh, and what a guy. The dumbass couldn’t tell she was being played, even when Nnoitra Gilga’s ugly mug stood right in front of her. 

Fair enough, he couldn’t blame her that much. Sometimes he sensed a bitter feeling stirring at his chest when he saw the way he looked at her and thought maybe they stood a chance. Maybe they could work out.

Nnoitra was captain of the basketball team, and he was tall enough to smack his head on most doors he walked through. At times he gazed at her softly and fondly, but not just for his height, Grimmjow thought he would always look down on her.

Or maybe it was just his resentment talking. Whatever.

When she leaned on him and went on about being invited to prom and how he should go too, he wished the ground would swallow him whole.

“ _Proms are pathetic, Nel.”_

They were. He wasn’t lying. Still, the comment did nothing to stop her excitement, and he had to make out some excuse to leave just so he wouldn’t have to hear her insisting he’d go and watch her make dreamy eyes at some other guy.

He wasn’t jealous. He’d have to stress he had a girlfriend who was – if you remember – hot and promiscuous. And her mouth was put to much better use than just giving him a headache. But he was honest enough with himself to know he was feeling just a bit possessive.

It was a strange sort of protectiveness, because he could tell Nnoitra was a bad investment at first sight and despite his biggest efforts not to care, he grew to like Nelliel a bit more than he should. At times it felt like nobody, neither her crush nor her friends, would  _ever_  be good enough for her.

He should have laughed when he saw Nnoitra hanging out with his posse on prom night with Nelliel nowhere to be seen.

Cirucci wasn’t happy when he blurted out the question. Nnoitra gave him a cheap look,  _aaaaaaalmost_  regretful, and brushed it off as if it had an obvious answer.

“Are _mormons even allowed to prom?”_  He mocked, and his buddies snorted at the comment.

  


* * *

When Grimmjow arrived there, later than he should have since he had to look for the closest thing resembling a suit in his closet, Nel was by the poncho table serving herself. She didn’t look as happy as she should have been, and that was criminal.

“Hey.” He greeted, and she turned to him without hiding her surprise.

Her eyes softened. Her yellow dress hung loose from her shoulders, moving like waves at her feet, marking her usually hidden figure.

“You showed up.” Nel smiled, and he looked away.

The food looked interesting enough.

“Did you come to keep me company?” She was so close to him, her soft hands on his arms.

Watermelon and ham.

“I came for the catering.” He brushed off, but didn’t push her away.

It looked like he wasn’t fooling anyone. Or at least he wasn’t fooling her. She leaned her head against his chest and lightly swung to the melody playing around them.

When his arms wrapped around her, she glanced up, smiling but with a question on her lips.

“Doesn’t Cirucci mind?”

“It’s none of her business.” He mumbled, not wanting to meet her eyes. “She dumped me for this, so you better appreciate it.”

Something told him she actually did.

The way she held close to him that night was stuck to the back of his mind like a slowly spreading virus. And for every wrong that came with that, nothing could take it away from him, not his own outward dismissal, not the months that went by, not even Nnoitra’s apology to her and their hesitant reconciliation.

She didn’t look at Nnoitra the same way again. Grimmjow knew her feelings didn’t just vanish into thin air though. He knew that when she sat next to him singing again, it wasn’t him she was thinking about.

He hears the tune blasting from her headphones again.

 _Anyone in this place_  
Can tell you to your face  
Why you shouldn't try to love someone .

“ _Everyone has been burned before._ ” She quietly sings, brushing it all off. “ _Everybody knows the pain._ ”

 _I know all too well_  
How to turn, how to run  
How to hide behind a bitter wall of blue  
But you die inside if you choose to hide  
So I guess instead I'll love you 

“You should listen to Black Flag.” He grunts. “It’s better than that shit.”

She swiftly turned around to look at him, hands pulling her headphones down.

“Girls don’t listen to that.”

“Not girls like you, no.” Grimmjow dismissed.

“...Did Cirucci like them?” Nel asks him, and she looks almost innocent.

Almost.

He throws her an ugly glare that does nothing to deter her.

“I can talk to her--”

“Fucking hell.” He interrupts her. “It’s not like I was in love with her or something.”

She paused, as if she was disappointed by that answer. To Grimmjow, it takes a few moments to realize why.

“I know, you guys just happen to date people you don’t like.”

“Don’t compare me to him.” He snapped.

“Why not?” She sat back down with her back turned to his. “It is how it is.”

“Just because I didn’t love Cirucci doesn’t mean I didn’t like her.”

“What did you like about her?” She asks, frowning when all she receives is a snort. “Yeah this is your problem. You’re just like him.”

“I never stood you up.” Grimmjow defended.

“But you only dated a girl to bed her.”

“Oh, like she didn’t.” He spat back.

Nelliel looks at him with a sad look on her eyes, of someone whose expectations all fell flat.

“I didn’t.” She said, so quietly he barely heard it.

“Well...” He hesitated. “You’re not her. You’re messing with people who don’t know how to deal with chicks like you.”

“You included?” She smirked at him.

“Me included.” He sighed, with a deep frown.

  


* * *

  


After only a few months of peace with Nelliel, Nnoitra got angry at him. It was easy to guess why. The rest of the world like to assume shit and saw too much into their friendship to just accept it for what it was. Friendship.

So it wasn’t true that they were madly in love with each other or some other dumb, affair-like bullshit, but when that obnoxious grasshopper went out of his way to point his big, pointy finger at him like he personally spat on his food, Grimmjow didn’t really bother  _not_  feeding into his paranoia.

“ _Are you jealous that she talks more to me than to you?”_

In the end, he found himself caked in mud, with a bleeding nose and every spot of his body feeling sore. Despite having thrown a few good punches here and there (and at the bare minimum busting Nnoitra’s lip open), the other guy was too much for him. Probably because Nnoitra was ladder sized and actually exercised.

The downpour of rain was washing the blood away from his face, when he heard her call his name and wondered whether he hit his head too hard on the floor.

“Grimmjow!”

Alas, he turned around to find her leaving the sheltered bus stop and rushing towards him with no umbrella.

They went to his apartment. It was a shithole in the bad part of town, but it was all he could afford, and going to her father’s house was not an option. If her old man found out she spent her time around some boy – especially one like him – he would surely move to another town and take her with him.

She made up some excuse over the phone about studying for an exam with a friend while he picked out some clothes for her out of his own closet.

He’d rather her not be there at all, in  _his_  space, not letting him lick his own wounds in solitude, but he never really got what he wanted when she was around. He kept his eyes on hers, trying not to look at her soaked shirt as he handed her a towel and the smallest clothes he could find.

“Was Nnoitra your first?” Grimmjow asked once she got dried, wondering about her father’s over-protectiveness.

The blush that graced her face was too accusatory. He snorted.

“You sure made the pick of the century.”

“Was he the one who did this to you?” She asked, staring at the floor like she already knew the answer.

Or maybe she just didn’t want to see his undress while he wrapped himself in a large towel, and droplets of water still fell from his hair. He plumped down on the sofa with a sigh, and looked up at her while the rain crashed against the window.

The stormy weather was all the sound in the room.

After a moment of hesitation, she pulled out a pack of tissues from her bag, and knelt down to gently wipe at the crusted blood on his face. He didn’t stop her, but he leaned into her touch without even noticing it.

“Nnoitra must be my biggest mistake.” Nelliel finally broke the silence. Grimmjow nearly snorted. It never did last long with her around. “I can’t ever forgive him for this.”

“Not my problem.”

“I’m sorry for this.” Her voice barely trembled, but it didn’t go unnoticed. “I should never--”

Before he gave himself the time to think about what he was doing, both his hands lightly reached for her face. Slowly he came closer, enjoying the softness of her skin beneath his fingers and the way she smelled after the rain washed everything else away and left only her.

As paralyzed as she was, she didn’t move when he pressed his lips against her cheek in a lingering kiss.

He parted just as thunder roared outside, but kept close as he whispered to her ear.

“You can’t help who you love.”

When he backed off, suddenly too self conscious for his own good, he saw that she was looking at him wide eyed and with parted lips.

All he saw was brown and specs of green.

  


* * *

  


He did his best to avoid her since then, but his best wasn’t good enough. Sometimes he gave in and threw her a smile, only on those days where she couldn’t put on one of her own.

Grimmjow knew it hurt her to run off, but he excused himself by saying it wasn’t his problem if it did. Her friendship had always been unsolicited, and now his feelings were as well.

While he was busy running away, everything got turned upside down.

When Nnoitra realized  the blue haired punk wasn't the sole reason he couldn’t have her anymore, he spread a fatal lie. Nelliel’s father was wealthy, and if he found it easy to switch from a busy city life to a more quiet one in Hueco Mundo, it was just as simple for him to go back on that decision.

She did nothing wrong, but her word hardly mattered when she was seen leaving Grimmjow’s apartment in his t-shirt, after lying to her father by telling him she had just been studying with another girl.

All it took was one bad rumor, one bad photo, and the rest was taken care of by gossip.

Nel simply didn’t show up one day, and like the awful person he was, Grimmjow only noticed on her third absence.

When he looked for her again, it was too late. The big house she lived at with her father was being emptied by moving services, and she was nowhere to be seen.

Her old man was though, and with one look at Grimmjow he could tell he made the right call when he decided to leave town.

“What do you want kid?”

Grimmjow met his eyes – they were black and cold and nothing like hers – and he didn’t bother answering. Her father didn’t need it anyway.

“If I see you looking around for my daughter again, I’ll make sure you stay locked up for the rest of your life.”

Grimmjow walked away in such an automated manned, he didn’t realize he was back at his own home until he closed the front door.

As he laid in his bed staring at the ceiling, he remembered what he once told her before he flushed everything they had down the drain.

You can’t help who you love.

But he could have helped how he treated her, and he didn’t.

  


* * *

  


Life went one without her just like it had before they met. Ordinary, somehow less irritating,  feeling like it was lacking something essential.

Grimmjow never saw her again during college, but he was confronted with Nnoitra’s ugly mug smiling at him many times after that. If he had to guess he’d say it was one of those “ _If I can’t have her, no one can_ ” things dipshits like Nnoitra do.

He tried not to care. He followed a predictable path for a guy like him. Hung out at the local bars, tried things he never should have, settled for an average job with no qualifications to pay his rent, and generally dragged himself through life without much interest in anything.

He made an effort here and there to not completely let himself down, like going to the gym and even taking cooking classes for the heck of it, but besides ensuring he wasn’t going to end up dead in some ditch, that wasn’t good for much.

Things changed six years later. 

By pure change, they met again at the coffee shop she worked at.

He grew more into his frame, but besides that he was still the same blue haired kid that regretted giving her up.

As for her, she grew too. Her hair was shorter than he remembered, but it still fell down her shoulders like sea weed. Her eyes were still bright when she saw him, and her lips were still plump when they parted in shock.

Nelliel muttered his name, only noticing she was spilling the coffee when it burned her hand.

“Are you alright?” He blurted out before he knew it.

“You’re in Seireitei?” She swiftly reached for a wet towel and covered her hand, looking almost too practiced at it.

“If the street sign is right...” Grimmjow muttered. “It’s been a while.”

Sometimes along the years he thought she was just another part of his past, gone but not forgotten – but ultimately gone. It was only natural he’d get over her and move on with his life, but in that very moment, as he saw her lips turn into a wide and genuine smile, it felt like everything he pushed behind him came back up with a click.

As simple as that. The moment he caught wind of her he realized that something in him still liked her and probably always would.

Just his luck.

They met up after her work was done. Although Grimmjow wasn’t from Seireitei, he didn’t live too far away from it either. He came for a job interview he didn’t have many hopes for, but maybe fate insisted on dragging him along anyway.

She left her fathers house during University and never went back. For better or worse, she was on her own now.

He did notice her usual knee length skirt was replaced by form fitting jeans, and her cleavage was generous enough for the light spring breeze. 

What? He was a guy with a working pair of eyes on his face.

Much like old days, Nelliel could keep the conversation going on her own, and although that’d always been an annoying trait of hers, Grimmjow didn’t mind it much anymore.

She talked to him like he didn’t leave her alone when she needed someone the most, and that was what was bothering him. Whether she was faking it or not, it wasn’t right to have her brush things off so easily.

So, ever the honest guy, he told her just that. Not during their walk, not when the sun was setting. After, when he walked her home and he couldn’t take it anymore.

“I’m sorry I was a shit friend to you.”

She seemed surprised by the apology, but didn’t wave it off either.

“We were young.” Nel justified.

“I was old enough to know better.”

“I don’t want to think about stupid things we both did.”

“I’m just saying.” Grimmjow mumbled.

Nelliel still looked bewildered by his words, and despite her own she couldn’t help but ask.

“I guess I just always wanted to know why...” Her eyes fell on the ground in front of her apartment building’s entrance.

“Why what?”

“Why you avoided me.” She frowned at him.

Like someone caught stealing, Grimmjow froze in his spot.

“So?” She insisted.

“What, didn’t you catch up with it?”

“With what?” Nelliel looked like she was getting more upset by the minute.

He hesitated, before allowing a deep sigh to leave his lips. It’d been such a long time after all, what could it hurt to say it out loud?

“That I had a crush on you.” He admitted.

“I wondered after that day… On the rain.” She said. “But that’s not a reason.”

“You would never feel the same way, so I figured it’d be weird to hang out once you knew.” Grimmjow looked away, putting on a mask of indifference.

“How would you know?” Nelliel snapped at him, catching him off guard. “And what, I couldn’t like you back that way so my friendship was suddenly worthless?”

“Hey-”

“That’s what you just told me.”

“What happened to  _we were young_?”

Nelliel scoffed, her lower lip in a full pout.

“Back then you were just the last person I wanted to be with.” Grimmjow continued. “Because I was never all that good at pretending.”

“You were selfish.”

“I didn’t want you to feel sorry for me, I guess.” He mumbled, struggling with words.

“Why would I?”

“Feel sorry or obligated.”

“Obligated? You think I’d date you just because of that?”

“You know, I was having a good time up to this moment.” Grimmjow frowned at her.

“Well don’t run away just yet.”

Grimmjow gritted his teeth at the comment. He couldn’t stop the smirk that showed on his face though.

“Ouch.”

Nelliel smiled back at him.

“With so many coffee shops around here, what were the odds of you showing up in mine?” She joked, before hesitantly adding. “So your crush for me is gone now?”

Grimmjow raised a thin eyebrow at her, but upon catching her eyes again he had to look away.

“It was nice seeing you, Nel.”

“Don’t want to come in?”

“It’s getting late.”

“It’s Friday.”

Grimmjow only gave her an amused smirk.

“Well then.” She sighed. “I hope you get the job.”

So did he.

Suddenly he wished he tried a little harder at that interview.

  


* * *

  


Grimmjow liked to think of himself as a bit of a proactive guy.

While it was fair to say he wasn’t doing much with his life so far, it didn’t mean that he wouldn’t once he found a good enough reason to try.

He didn’t get the job, but he didn’t spent six years regretting the way he let her go to repeat that same mistake either.

Fortune told the day he returned to Seireitei to wait for her at her coffee shop’s door was also meant to have a downpour. Grimmjow guessed he deserved it – getting soaking wet again and knowing there was an impending cold waiting for him after.

“Grimmjow?” Her caught off guard voice made him lift his head from the water flowing at his feet, and a strong wave of  _dejá vu_  hit him. “You could have come in!”

They both rushed to her place, a bit better protected since she had the foresight of bringing an umbrella with her.

This time, when she invited him in, he accepted. And this time, she was the one offering him her baggiest clothes.

He threw her a cynical look as he held a bright orange workout t-shirt that still seemed way too small for him.

“Not my fault you don’t know what an umbrella is.” Nelliel scoffed. “What were you doing, waiting for me outside?”

“Surprise?”

She shook her head, a hand over her mouth to hide her smile.

“Come on, get those off. You’re going to get sick and I don’t have heating.” Nelliel rushed to the bathroom, preparing a shower for him. “Did you get the job?”

“No.” Grimmjow undressed.

“Oh...” He heard her disappointment from the bathroom. “Plenty of fish in the sea.”

“I’ll try somewhere else around here.” His pants were hard to get rid of, all too tight and stubbornly sticking to his legs. Eventually they came off though.

“You’re looking to stay around Seireitei?” There was almost a hint of hope in her question.

“I just came for one thing.”

“What is it?”

Nelliel didn’t notice anything until she retrieved a large towel from her bathroom’s cabinet and turned around to find Grimmjow inappropriately close to her.

The strangled sound that left her throat actually made him snort.

Naked.

He was naked.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” She hid her face behind the towels, feeling her heart ready to pop out of her chest and run off to god knows where.

“Having people close their eyes isn’t a reaction I’m used to, you know?”

Next thing he knew, he was the one with a towel smacked against his face.

“You idiot!” Her eyes quickly assessed his body before dashing back to his face and stubbornly staying there.

If he was worried about what he was doing, he was trying very hard not to show it. Granted, the redness of her face was really distracting.

It clashed with the humid, green strands of her hair and looked even more obvious than it should have. He took a deep breath and reached out for her hand.

Nelliel didn’t oppose to it, but she still looked like she was having an out of body experience.

“I might still have a crush on you.” Grimmjow admitted. “And maybe I shouldn’t be saying this naked, but hm. You asked, so.”

“It’s a bup hm a-” She stuttered.

“Try another language...”

“I’m ah.”

“Try a little harder?” He winced.

“I made you a shower ready.”

Just like that, it was as though another bucket of ice cold water dropped down on Grimmjow, and he was soaked all over again. He let go of her hand.

“Ok. Thanks.”

“No problem.” She whimpered.

She was already gone when he got under the shower, but unfortunately the water wasn’t doing anything to wash away his embarrassment.

Clearly he was still out of his mind from the previous day’s joint, because there was no other way for his brain to think it was a good idea to approach her this way while completely sober… right?

Fuck, he was a total jackass.

He glanced at her selection of fruity shampoos for a solid five minutes before deciding to go without. He couldn’t concentrate on scoffing at his options very much when he was still busy berating himself.

Grimmjow didn’t hear the knock at the door.

He didn’t hear the knock at the shower glass either.

He didn’t hear shit until she called out his name so closely, and he turned around to find her blush had spread from her face to her shoulders.

Nelliel still had some modesty to cover herself up with a towel – he should have thought of that – but the message was still clear.

“You mind if I…?”

Blue eyes that were fixed on her face, swiftly moved downwards as her towel slid off her curves and onto the bathroom floor.

“This is...” He mumbled.

“The most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done.” Nel completed his sentence.

Embarrassing? She wouldn’t know true embarrassment until she noticed exactly how his body was reacting to her move, so Grimmjow didn’t bother giving her more time to awkwardly stand there.

He pulled her into the shower and flush against him, his fingers threading into her hair just so he could look at her face more clearly.

Grimmjow always noticed she was pretty. He never noticed she was perfect before.

“I’m not perfect.” She whispered, and he flushed when he realized he said that out loud.

“Hm.”

More deliberately than he intended, he closed the distance between them and tasted her lips for the first time.

A song popped into his head when he realized they were as sweet as he imagined. Nel always liked candy, figures she’d go for the sugary drinks at her workplace too.

Whatever shame they had was left behind when their tongues met and their kiss deepened. He couldn’t get over her taste – there was a trace of cinnamon in there, along with caramel and sugar and something near buttery and pleasant that he couldn’t quite place. Grimmjow nibbled on her lower lip.

“My cinnamon girl.” He muttered when they paused to breathe between kisses.

“I like that song...” She said, a low hum reverberating in her throat.

Grimmjow groaned as his arms moved to her waist, pushing her hips even firmer against his in a slow grind.

 _I wanna live with a cinnamon girl_  
I could be happy the rest of my life  
With a cinnamon girl. 

  


* * *

  


She let Grimmjow sleep past 11, but once the clock was approaching noon his laziness was starting to look very unimpressive.

“Hey.” She nudged his back as he remained tangled in the sheets, catching the sun from the window on his skin. “Get up.”

“Hmgm”

“Come on.” She tore the blankets off his still naked body, but it made no difference to him. “This is not a sexy look for you.”

All she got in response was a groan that could have passed as an insult.

“It’s nearly lunch time.” Nelliel knelt over his legs, starting to drum on his butt cheeks. “And you’re still sleeping.”

“Stop humiliating me.” Grimmjow glared at her over his shoulder, as the drumming proceeded.

“You’re humiliating yourself, by being so lazy.”

With an annoyed grunt, Grimmjow eventually sat up, hair spiking on every different direction. Nel smirked, walking away in that very bright orange shirt she offered him the previous night.

“Where are my clothes?”

“By the window.” She called back.

Grimmjow would have happily stayed in bed another couple of hours, but knowing his company was elsewhere prompted him to get dressed and walk to the kitchen, where Nelliel was cleaning the counter.

Slumping down on the chair by the table, he quietly stared at her, hoping she’d say something first.

“You want coffee?” Nel asked, not even turning to face him.

Grimmjow frowned.

“So, do I have a chance here, or what?”

She turned to him now, looking surprised at his straight forwardness.

“My question first.”

“Hit me up.” He groaned.

“How much sugar?”

“Two tea spoons, no cream.”

“Like it black?”

“Am I talking to Nelliel, the woman I fucked yesterday, or Nelliel, the woman that works at a coffee shop.”

“You’re crude.”

“Answer my question.”

“Yes.”

He paused.

“Yes?”

“You asked if you had a chance.” She snapped, endearingly flushed. “What kind of question is that? Do you think I sleep with anyone who asks?”

“How should I know?” Grimmjow scowled. “I never wanted to know about your sex life.”

“So?” She berated him. “You know what type of person I am.”

“I haven’t seen you in six years.”

“Six years isn’t that much.”

“Also I sleep around plenty, nothing wrong with that.”

Nelliel glared at him.

“Slept.” He corrected himself.

“You haven’t changed much.” She commented, leaning back on the counter.

“I’m hotter now. I heard.”

“And smugger.” She laughed. “Since when do you care about that?”

“Since I started destroying the competition.”

“I’m not sure I like this new Grimmjow.”

The comeback died on his lips, and a sliver of concern hit him.

“Hey,” She rushed to his side when she noticed the reaction. “I’m kidding.”

He scoffed, but didn’t say anything else. She kissed his forehead lightly and paused, looking at him strangely.

“What?”

“Nothing...” She said, before preparing him the coffee he asked for with an uncharacteristic silence.

Who knew Nel could shut her mouth every once in a while? And yet, even though it was unusual of her, he found himself perfectly comfortable with it.

“You wanna have lunch somewhere?” Grimmjow asked, just as a strange wave of dizziness caught him off guard.

“I think I might just make chicken soup.”

“Chicken soup? Why?”

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and it suddenly hit him.

He pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead and winced. He was burning.

“As charming as it was to have you wait for me in the rain,” Nelliel said with a smile. “Try not to do that again, yeah?”

Grimmjow only groaned.

  


  


  
  



End file.
